MCA deputy president Wee Ka Siong said if “Hadi’s bill is still Hadi’s bill”, then MCA will not support it even if it makes it into the Dewan Rakyat as a government bill.
“If it is 100% as per Hadi’s bill, then, of course, our stand will be the same. But if the contents and the landscape are totally different … we cannot just jump the gun at this juncture.
“I can only tell you at this juncture that the status is the same. Meaning Hadi’s bill is still Hadi’s bill,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby here today.
Wee was responding to DAP leader Lim Kit Siang who had earlier urged MCA, MIC and Gerakan ministers to resign from their ministerial posts if Hadi’s private member’s bill is given priority by the government and comes up in the Dewan Rakyat for debate.
Lim reminded both MCA and Gerakan leaders that this was the promise they made when the motion for the bill was first read out in the Dewan Rakyat last year.
Wee, who is MP for Ayer Hitam, said Lim’s statement was part of his “dirty tactics” to divert attention from PKR and Amanah’s stand on the bill, which is unclear at the moment.
“I have asked before in regards to Amanah and PKR’s stand. He doesn’t dare to answer until today.
“He still needs the Malay votes, that is why he doesn’t answer.
“But be honest if there is no mutual understanding among all the Pakatan Harapan component parties.
“Don’t make MCA the black sheep and slam us in front of the Chinese all the time.”
Hadi’s bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355) is scheduled to be tabled in the current Dewan Rakyat sitting.
It was read out twice in the Dewan last year, but both times Hadi postponed tabling of the bill, saying he wanted to make sure the public understood the amendments would not be applicable to non-Muslims.
The bill aims to increase the current penalties for certain shariah offences, including raising the current jail term to 30 years, the fine to RM100,000 and imposing 100 strokes of the cane.
At present, the shariah criminal punishment is capped at three years’ jail, RM5,000 fine and six strokes of the cane.